Just off the workbench: PC 9633

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The newest addition to my small collection of locomotives to operate at the paper plant on my layout is this Atlas S2. It’s a sound-equipped model that I painted, lettered, and weathered with acrylics, powders, and graphite pencil. I made an attempt to model the paint chipping along the frame, revealing white frame stripe that was part of its former NYC paint scheme. Also of note is the non-standard application of the corporate logo: the words Penn Central do not appear on the locomotive hood, and the numerals were applied using old NYC stencils.

The above photo represents the most accurate depiction of the prototype that I can muster with my collection. The prototype locomotive and caboose were both assigned at North Tonawanda yard. In the photo below, 9633 pulls a cut of boxcars across the switch to the bulk coal storage area.

Thanks Scott. I painted the white onto the black with a paintbrush using Vallejo Air paint. Vallejo Air is already thinned with enough medium to make it perfectly suited for airbrushing straight from the bottle. As a result, it flows much more thinly from a paintbrush. I had to go back and touch up a couple of places with black afterward. When the paint was dry, used a grey weathering powder to fade everything.

I don’t know the whole story about how this locomotive and many other switchers came to wear a non-standard paint scheme. I know that this locomotive looked like this until it was disposed of. The same appears to be true about the SW1 that I finished last week.

Of course, many switchers did have the correct corporate image applied, but I really like these oddballs. I suspect that switchers which were repainted at Altoona, Enola, and major shops like that received the complete corporate image because of the scale of repainting that was going on there. Also, I don’t know exactly when 9633 received its PC hybrid paint, but the people who painted it might have been under pressure to get it done quickly without a complete paint diagram or stencils. Or maybe they were just stubborn about their allegiance to NYC. That was common. The crew at St. Thomas took liberties with the corporate image over the years, so perhaps the shop forces at Buffalo were doing the same. Regardless, it makes for an intriguing and subtle variation on an otherwise bland paint scheme.

I have one of Atlas’ sound-fitted S-2’s done up for the Erie-Lackawanna–one of my last purchases from Doug’s Trains (sigh). It’s a sweet-running model with excellent sound that takes me back to seeing CP Rail S-2’s running down the centre of Queen’s Quay in Toronto in 1984-85. This model is a good start for modelling just about any road’s S-2’s.

Your paint job on this adds even more to a very nice model. I suspect that the PC shops just removed (or painted over) the NYC lettering and gave the cab a quick renumbering with patched-over “worms in love” logo. All in line with PC’s financial condition of the time. Little else could explain the rust and grime on the roof of the 9633.

The modeling is very nice. The trackwork looks good too. Do you have a track plan? I often like to refer to a track plan when I look at ones blog. If you have one, it would be nice to have a page with the track plan.